2026.09.08 Legislative Agenda
Spokane County | September 8, 2026
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJj7jxdC1s0
YouTube automatic captions. Not independently verified against audio. Exported timestamps have whole-second precision; caption wording is preserved.
[00:00:00] ress.
[00:00:01] >> Okay. Good afternoon everyone. It is
[00:00:03] September 8th, 2026. It is our 2 o'clock
[00:00:06] commissioners consent agenda meeting. Um
[00:00:08] let let the record reflect that all five
[00:00:10] commissioners are present. Commissioner
[00:00:12] French is on Zoom. Um we have received
[00:00:16] comments um for item 4B that we're
[00:00:19] sending to the commissioners.
[00:00:21] And other than that, we will be
[00:00:23] continuing item 4A
[00:00:27] um to next week for decision only. And
[00:00:30] so we'll be continuing that item to the
[00:00:32] 15th. Um last week we had a couple of
[00:00:35] questions that we need to get answered
[00:00:37] and they have not been answered yet. So
[00:00:38] we want to make sure that we we do our
[00:00:41] due diligence and so we're going to
[00:00:42] continue that to the 15th. And again,
[00:00:44] just for decision only. So with that, I
[00:00:47] would ask everyone to please stand for
[00:00:48] the pledge.
[00:00:54] I pledge algiance to the flag of the
[00:00:56] United States of America and to the
[00:00:59] republic for it stands. One nation under
[00:01:02] God, indivisible with liberty and
[00:01:05] justice for all.
[00:01:12] >> Okay, I do have five people that have
[00:01:14] signed up and I do have one person
[00:01:15] online. So, I am going to go ahead and
[00:01:17] accept all of those and we'll do three
[00:01:20] minutes each, just our standard three
[00:01:21] minutes. Um, that'll just take us just a
[00:01:24] few minutes over. So, I'm going to go
[00:01:26] ahead and get started with uh Terry
[00:01:28] Horn.
[00:01:39] All right. Good afternoon,
[00:01:40] commissioners. My name is Terry Horn.
[00:01:42] I'm West Plains resident. I'm here to
[00:01:44] talk about infrasound. There is no
[00:01:46] mitigation
[00:01:49] anything below the human threshold of
[00:01:52] hearing 20 hertz and below infrasound
[00:01:56] actually causes cellular death.
[00:02:00] Now it causes physiological and
[00:02:03] behavioral changes causes stress to our
[00:02:06] cells. I see nothing on mitigating
[00:02:10] infrasound from this proposed LLM, large
[00:02:14] language model, hypers scale AI data
[00:02:17] center. I'm not really sure what we
[00:02:19] really want to call it, but every time
[00:02:21] you increase the megawws of um an a
[00:02:25] center like this, it proportionally
[00:02:28] increases the infrasound exposure out by
[00:02:31] miles. That means my West Plains, West
[00:02:34] Terrace neighborhood when it reaches a
[00:02:37] thousand megawws because that's what
[00:02:39] you're planning on doing. I've read a
[00:02:41] lot is going to impact my neighborhood,
[00:02:44] my house. I'm sure it doesn't matter to
[00:02:47] you guys because well, you don't live
[00:02:49] near it, right? At the West Lake at the
[00:02:52] uh West Medical Lake Road site 11703.
[00:02:57] no mitigation if there's you can't
[00:02:59] damper it with normal techniques.
[00:03:03] Okay, it's a very specific oscillation,
[00:03:06] a linear nonosscillating system. Okay,
[00:03:10] you have to do your maths. We have to go
[00:03:12] back to the best available science.
[00:03:14] There's some fantastic literature out
[00:03:16] there that explains how infrasound, if
[00:03:19] unregulated, will kill human cells.
[00:03:24] Is that what you are planning on doing?
[00:03:28] Is is I'm serious because you're about
[00:03:30] to put it on top of a critical aqua
[00:03:32] recharge area with wetlands strewn all
[00:03:34] across it and one of the highest
[00:03:36] contamination points for PAS as is.
[00:03:41] What are we doing? We're going to put a
[00:03:43] site that's going to cause more
[00:03:44] environmental damage on a site that
[00:03:46] already has environmental impacts.
[00:03:49] This is not clever. Again, what does the
[00:03:53] best available science say? And I don't
[00:03:56] see anything in this literature, the
[00:03:58] publication, anything to protect us, the
[00:04:02] natural environment. I don't know what
[00:04:03] is going on, you guys.
[00:04:06] But please
[00:04:08] think about how you're going to mitigate
[00:04:10] infrasound
[00:04:12] because you will end up killing us.
[00:04:18] >> Thank you.
[00:04:20] Next I have Timothy Vale or
[00:04:22] >> Vile.
[00:04:26] >> Thank you.
[00:04:27] >> From Spokane Valley. So what I wanted to
[00:04:31] talk about is the same thing is the data
[00:04:33] center being proposed to be built in
[00:04:35] Airway Heights. So one of the things
[00:04:37] that kind of struck me as I've been
[00:04:38] doing more research about this and
[00:04:40] listening to y'all, I've been here last
[00:04:41] week as well, is there was talk of a
[00:04:44] planning committee and also of making
[00:04:46] regulations. My point is, does anyone
[00:04:49] here actually have the background in
[00:04:52] environmental science and the background
[00:04:54] in these actual data centers because the
[00:04:56] techn is quite new to adequately make a
[00:04:58] safe plan for us? Like you could put me
[00:05:01] in a room and you could have me design a
[00:05:02] seat belt and I could have something
[00:05:04] that looks like a seat belt, but I would
[00:05:05] not want to drive that car. And instead
[00:05:07] of driving a car, what we're having is
[00:05:09] we're having an entire community exposed
[00:05:11] to the results of these actions. So you
[00:05:14] know if you look at the railroad a lot
[00:05:16] of times there was political division on
[00:05:18] that project. People were very upset the
[00:05:20] railroad was getting built you know
[00:05:21] especially the people who was affecting
[00:05:22] and there were lots of people who are
[00:05:23] for it because making money. The data
[00:05:26] center is not a railroad. It's a project
[00:05:28] which has to be rebuilt every 5 years
[00:05:30] because the chips have no longevity. If
[00:05:32] you look at the actual macroeconomics of
[00:05:34] this I've talked to several people and
[00:05:37] it's not it's not unreasonable to
[00:05:39] conclude this might actually be a
[00:05:40] bubble. So we could potentially put in a
[00:05:43] lot of chemicals in an airway in airway
[00:05:46] heights a place which already has damage
[00:05:47] because the air force base and other
[00:05:49] factors and then have no long-term
[00:05:51] benefit to show for it. Also we do not
[00:05:54] have the ability inhouse to adequately
[00:05:57] make safety regulations. Now, we have
[00:05:58] the ability to call people and have
[00:06:00] those people show up and have those
[00:06:02] people present a neutral third-party
[00:06:04] safety regulations, which I think would
[00:06:06] be great because asking a company to
[00:06:08] write its own safety regulations, I
[00:06:10] think, has a proven track record lead to
[00:06:12] nothing but abuse. Um, you know,
[00:06:14] corporations by their very nature have
[00:06:16] to show profits to their shareholders.
[00:06:18] So, they're driving factors to make
[00:06:20] profits. Hey, I'm not hating on that,
[00:06:22] but this is our water. So I do think
[00:06:25] before we move forward we need to really
[00:06:27] we really need to think at the process
[00:06:28] we're actually using is conducive to
[00:06:31] health because again you put me in a
[00:06:33] room I make a seat belt do you want your
[00:06:35] kid to drive that car? No. And I you'd
[00:06:38] be a you you'd be a fool to do so. So I
[00:06:41] don't understand how allowing us to make
[00:06:43] our own safety regulations or allowing
[00:06:45] someone on the committee to make their
[00:06:46] own safety regulations or for God's
[00:06:47] sakes allowing the company to make the
[00:06:49] safety regulations is actually in
[00:06:50] anyone's interest. Like we have
[00:06:52] environmental impact studies for a
[00:06:54] reason. We have third parties for a
[00:06:56] reason. And we cannot accept the word of
[00:07:00] a company proposing their own safety
[00:07:01] regulations. They have every incentive
[00:07:03] on the planet to lie and we have every
[00:07:06] incentive to make sure that this is
[00:07:08] going to not be a permanent drain on the
[00:07:11] environment. We don't get a second
[00:07:12] chance at this. And also, not for
[00:07:15] nothing, according to a recent poll, 60%
[00:07:18] of Americans oppose data centers.
[00:07:22] Why are we doing this? The language
[00:07:24] models themselves have not shown great
[00:07:26] utility. What they are showing is
[00:07:28] economic disruption and we're not even
[00:07:31] sure this is going to be a good
[00:07:32] long-term thing. So, thank you for your
[00:07:34] time. Appreciate you.
[00:07:35] >> Thank you.
[00:07:37] >> Next, I have Jeremiah Hardy.
[00:07:49] So, back at it again.
[00:07:52] I uh I saw an interesting email. I
[00:07:55] believe it was August 27th. Uh Jeremiah
[00:07:58] Harding, Spokane. Um and that email was
[00:08:02] to Shawn Boyd thanking him for uh the
[00:08:06] effort.
[00:08:08] Uh Shawn Boyd of uh Apricus uh is one of
[00:08:12] the people, the prime people that's been
[00:08:15] talking with Al French for a long time.
[00:08:17] And uh Scott uh seems to have thanked
[00:08:21] him for some certain effort giving him
[00:08:24] uh like an insight on the uh
[00:08:28] workshopable ordinances and regulations
[00:08:31] that have been coming out for data
[00:08:33] centers. Now this is one of multiple
[00:08:36] emails. And another email that I saw um
[00:08:40] was a forward and this was on August 3rd
[00:08:44] I believe a forward of an email that was
[00:08:47] sent in April. And that email that was
[00:08:50] sent in April was a nice little
[00:08:52] slideshow presentation from Apricus.
[00:08:56] And that little slideshow presentation
[00:08:59] said among other things that they don't
[00:09:01] plan on a closed loop anything that they
[00:09:03] don't plan on, you know, um any sort of
[00:09:07] true environmental mitigation. Now, one
[00:09:10] of the reasons that that matters is in
[00:09:12] the ordinance thing that uh got brought
[00:09:15] up during the workshop, uh they were
[00:09:18] touting a big line about uh their, you
[00:09:20] know, closed loop that they were going
[00:09:21] to, you know, save as much water as
[00:09:23] possible. to only be 03%.
[00:09:26] Which is still, you know, insane and not
[00:09:29] good for the environment. But like
[00:09:30] beyond all of that, um the email in
[00:09:33] question said in that same slideshow
[00:09:36] that the public had been consulted and
[00:09:39] that the public had no objections. The
[00:09:42] public didn't know.
[00:09:44] We didn't know.
[00:09:47] Do you understand how that looks to the
[00:09:49] people here? To the people in this
[00:09:51] audience? To the people who see these
[00:09:52] posts online? To the people who see me
[00:09:54] when I reveal these things that were
[00:09:57] supposed to be in private and
[00:09:58] confidential emails and presentations
[00:10:01] that are marked private and confidential
[00:10:03] because they were private and
[00:10:04] confidential and they always were. And
[00:10:07] then being told that the public had been
[00:10:09] consulted and that they didn't object.
[00:10:13] Do you understand that a public who is
[00:10:15] routinely not consulted about the way
[00:10:17] that things affect them in their
[00:10:20] environments and in their political
[00:10:22] environment eventually do something
[00:10:24] about that? Because let me be absolutely
[00:10:28] crystal clear. These things are
[00:10:29] poisoning, surveilling, helping the
[00:10:31] government kill people domestically and
[00:10:33] overseas, helping rip up families,
[00:10:36] helping you know control how much you
[00:10:39] spend on things, powering the dystopian
[00:10:42] surveillance and warfare and
[00:10:44] brutalization state. And if you think
[00:10:47] that the public does not object, you
[00:10:49] don't know the public.
[00:10:53] >> Thank you.
[00:10:55] Next I have Joseph Godsy.
[00:11:06] Good afternoon. I'm Joseph Godsy and I
[00:11:09] was elected to protect the water for the
[00:11:11] people of the valley, the city, and the
[00:11:12] county. But I can't protect our water
[00:11:15] from the threat that the Republican
[00:11:17] party poses to all of us. So today, I
[00:11:20] will lead us in a reflection. As a
[00:11:22] former Republican, I will share what I
[00:11:25] was once told to tolerate and no longer
[00:11:28] could. I hope that you can reflect.
[00:11:31] First, I want every elected individual
[00:11:33] here to look at your open hands and
[00:11:36] think of the lives entrusted unto them.
[00:11:39] Now, for every time a Republican has
[00:11:42] done one of these evils and you
[00:11:44] overlooked it, close a finger. I'll be
[00:11:48] open and honest about how much I have
[00:11:50] had to overlook in my life.
[00:11:52] Put a finger down for every Republican
[00:11:54] who's ever signaled a company's profits
[00:11:56] are worth more than American citizens
[00:11:59] lives.
[00:12:01] Put a finger down for every Republican
[00:12:03] who works to dismantle workers rights,
[00:12:05] protection, and fair pay. Put a finger
[00:12:08] down for every Republican who has
[00:12:11] defended slavery in your orbit. Put a
[00:12:14] finger down for every Republican who
[00:12:16] blamed the victim of an assault. put a
[00:12:20] finger down for every Republican who
[00:12:22] criticized what a little girl was
[00:12:23] wearing, signaling that they were
[00:12:25] definitely attracted to that child and
[00:12:26] it was up to that child to have to
[00:12:28] protect themselves from the monster. Put
[00:12:31] a finger down for every Republican who
[00:12:33] defends pedophilia and child marriage.
[00:12:37] Put a finger down for every time a
[00:12:39] Republican called for extrajudicial
[00:12:41] killings.
[00:12:42] Put a finger down for every Republican
[00:12:44] that has called for genocide.
[00:12:47] Put a finger down for every time a
[00:12:49] Republican has called for the use of
[00:12:50] nuclear weapons. Put a finger down for
[00:12:53] every Republican who defended child
[00:12:55] labor. Put a finger down for every
[00:12:58] Republican that has called for open
[00:13:00] treason against America. As a
[00:13:02] Republican, you add legitimacy to their
[00:13:06] evils. Now for every time your hands is
[00:13:08] opened and closed, imagine the innocent
[00:13:11] lives entrusted in your hands being
[00:13:13] crushed as blood has flowed forth from
[00:13:16] your stained hands. Your Republican
[00:13:19] hands are the orphan crushing machines
[00:13:21] and you can choose to turn them off at
[00:13:23] any time by renouncing the evils that
[00:13:26] you represent. But otherwise, we the
[00:13:29] voters will have to. I'm Joseph Godsy.
[00:13:32] Have the day you deserve.
[00:13:36] Thank you. And next I have Gabriel
[00:13:39] Kennedy Gibbons.
[00:13:55] Hello commissioners. My name is Gabriel
[00:13:57] and I live up in North Spokane County.
[00:14:00] Um, so first I just wanted to take an
[00:14:02] opportunity to thank all of you in
[00:14:04] person for finding a compromise and
[00:14:07] voting on the four-month pause um for
[00:14:09] data center construction. So,
[00:14:11] Commissioner Jordan, Commissioner
[00:14:12] Waldruff, Commissioner Karns,
[00:14:14] Commissioner Brooks, and online,
[00:14:16] Commissioner French, thank you. Um, with
[00:14:19] that said, my ask is that if the
[00:14:22] planning commission requests an extended
[00:14:24] deadline to do their best work that you
[00:14:27] grant that pause or that extension of
[00:14:29] the pause. Um, and here's the reasons
[00:14:31] why. So, I read through the entire
[00:14:32] ordinance, the draft ordinance, and I
[00:14:34] read line by line. I made very thorough
[00:14:36] comments in the margins of everything
[00:14:37] that I've learned with my environmental
[00:14:38] science degree, things that I liked in
[00:14:40] the ordinance, things that I found
[00:14:41] concerning. I've also been keeping a
[00:14:43] track record of every single comment
[00:14:45] made at all of these meetings at the
[00:14:47] planning commission workshop as well as
[00:14:49] things posted online on Facebook and
[00:14:50] case studies that I've read of all of
[00:14:52] the gaps that we still have in this
[00:14:54] ordinance. My plan is to compile all of
[00:14:57] these things, cate categorize them, and
[00:14:59] then take them to an event I suggest the
[00:15:02] public attend, which will be um in
[00:15:04] Airway Heights this Thursday, which is
[00:15:06] September 10th, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
[00:15:09] And it's a public forum by the people
[00:15:11] for the people, so we can hear all the
[00:15:13] concerns and see if there are any that
[00:15:15] are still um not on this list. With all
[00:15:18] of those compiled concerns, the planning
[00:15:20] commission said the easiest way for them
[00:15:22] to incorporate all of those is to see
[00:15:24] tracked changes. So, I'm going to take
[00:15:27] the entire ordinance. I'm going to write
[00:15:28] in all of the comments, the suggestions,
[00:15:30] the things I don't know that like we
[00:15:32] could use planning research and help.
[00:15:34] Um, and then we're going to get that
[00:15:35] document over to the planning
[00:15:37] commission. Um, so hopefully that's
[00:15:39] really helpful for them, but that's
[00:15:40] still going to take us some time as a
[00:15:41] community. The hope is that as a
[00:15:43] community we can find and finalize and
[00:15:45] agree on a single document with all of
[00:15:47] the concerns and then get that over to
[00:15:49] them so it's not just comment after
[00:15:51] comment. I know many of you tuned in to
[00:15:53] that planning commission workshop and it
[00:15:54] was very all over the place with
[00:15:56] concerns and things that were directly
[00:15:58] um talking about changes in the
[00:16:00] ordinance and just um overall changes in
[00:16:02] general. So I just want to try to
[00:16:04] streamline that process, but it's still
[00:16:06] going to take some time on our side
[00:16:07] before we can even get it to the
[00:16:08] planning commission. Um, so that brings
[00:16:10] us to this guy. This is our Earth. This
[00:16:13] is my Lego Earth. And similar to our our
[00:16:16] real world Earth. If I drop this, it's
[00:16:19] fragile. It's going to break. Right. So,
[00:16:21] we've got one Earth. We've got one shot
[00:16:23] to really get this ordinance right. And
[00:16:25] if it's going to take a few extra days
[00:16:27] to get all of the language, get the
[00:16:29] loopholes out. Right now there's a
[00:16:30] loophole where a developer could make
[00:16:32] several light load data centers next to
[00:16:34] each other and um they wouldn't have to
[00:16:37] follow the same rules that the larger
[00:16:39] load has. There's another um loophole
[00:16:40] that I'm concerned about which is
[00:16:42] developers will just pay the fees for
[00:16:44] violating things in the ordinance which
[00:16:46] has been done in case studies and I'll
[00:16:48] put those together and send those out to
[00:16:50] you guys so you're aware of that. I just
[00:16:52] really want to see this be as robust of
[00:16:54] a document as possible and the only way
[00:16:55] that that's going to happen is to have
[00:16:57] enough ample time to do so. So, if the
[00:16:58] planning commission requests more time,
[00:17:00] I really would appreciate if you could
[00:17:02] send. Thank you.
[00:17:03] >> Thank you. And then we do have one
[00:17:05] person online.
[00:17:09] Um,
[00:17:10] so whoever the first person was.
[00:17:17] >> Good afternoon, commissioners. I'm
[00:17:19] Britney Anderson. At this point, this
[00:17:22] board knows what has been uncovered and
[00:17:25] so does much of the public. I have
[00:17:27] emailed you with specific questions and
[00:17:30] still have not received substantive
[00:17:32] answers. Today, I received additional
[00:17:35] county records showing that Appreates
[00:17:37] was not simply discussing Big Rock. The
[00:17:39] CEO is directly submitting proposed
[00:17:41] changes to Spokane County's data center
[00:17:44] ordinance, including comments attributed
[00:17:46] to Inland Power, while also providing
[00:17:48] the county commission with revised Big
[00:17:50] Rock information and updated water use
[00:17:53] numbers. I do not have the attachments
[00:17:55] for those. Ironically, I also found the
[00:17:58] Great Spokane, Inc. was circulating a
[00:18:00] separate Washington Department of
[00:18:02] Commerce lead for another data center
[00:18:04] prospect while this county was actively
[00:18:07] developing its data center regulations.
[00:18:10] So, I want several questions answered on
[00:18:12] the record, please.
[00:18:15] Who is the developer and end user behind
[00:18:18] Big Rock? Is it Vantage? Is it diode? Or
[00:18:22] is there another public or is there
[00:18:24] another party that the public has not
[00:18:26] been told about? Has any commissioner or
[00:18:29] county official agreed to or signed an
[00:18:32] NDA or confidentiality agreement
[00:18:34] involving Big Rock, Africer?
[00:18:38] And most importantly, which provisions
[00:18:41] of the county's proposed data center
[00:18:42] ordinance has have been changed or been
[00:18:45] considered for change as the request of
[00:18:47] Africa inland power developers,
[00:18:50] utilities, or other industrial
[00:18:51] representatives.
[00:18:53] The public deserves to know who is
[00:18:55] helping to shape the rules for a project
[00:18:57] that could directly be benefit those who
[00:18:59] rules. We are doing our homework and
[00:19:02] we're paying attention. Silence is not
[00:19:05] transparency. So, please answer the
[00:19:08] questions already in front of you. I
[00:19:10] have sent so many emails and it's like
[00:19:12] shouting into the void. It is so
[00:19:15] frustrating and it's not just you guys.
[00:19:17] It's also the city of Spokane and it's
[00:19:19] also um Airway Heights as well. It's
[00:19:22] very frustrating. Like you guys complain
[00:19:25] about people not,
[00:19:29] you know, keeping a level head during
[00:19:30] these things and it's because we don't
[00:19:34] get any answers and it's extremely
[00:19:36] frustrating. Like why is it so secret? I
[00:19:40] don't understand. Just be honest with
[00:19:42] us. That's all we want is transparency.
[00:19:44] That's all I have.
[00:19:47] >> Thank you.
[00:19:50] Um, Ron, you said there's two more that
[00:19:52] have Okay. Um, I'm gonna allow them. We
[00:19:55] were after like we were at 205, so I'm
[00:19:58] going to just ask them to just give one
[00:20:00] minute.
[00:20:04] So, I don't know. You'll have to tell me
[00:20:06] who.
[00:20:08] >> Yep. Hello. I'm Zachariah.
[00:20:10] >> Hi, Zachariah. Um, I am gonna allow you
[00:20:12] to speak, but I'm just going to give you
[00:20:13] a minute if that's um that's that's what
[00:20:15] I'm asking for now.
[00:20:17] >> Yeah, that's okay. Thank you. I live in
[00:20:19] the West Plains and I work in
[00:20:20] information technology.
[00:20:22] Every couple of months there's new
[00:20:24] polling information that's released
[00:20:25] about attitudes surrounding large data
[00:20:28] centers. Every time it shows increased
[00:20:30] opposition. The most recent poll now
[00:20:33] shows that 79% of Americans do not want
[00:20:36] hypers scale data centers to be built in
[00:20:37] their communities with 60% strongly
[00:20:40] opposing them. I also wanted to share
[00:20:43] some news articles from the last couple
[00:20:44] of months.
[00:20:46] First, Microsoftbacked AI data center on
[00:20:49] the east coast is powering its
[00:20:51] operations with dozens of unpermitted
[00:20:53] generators.
[00:20:55] Georgia's first data center connected
[00:20:57] power plant found violating state and
[00:20:59] federal air pollution laws.
[00:21:02] A contractor for meta data center in
[00:21:04] Wyoming flushed over 800,000 gallons of
[00:21:08] contaminated water.
[00:21:10] More than half of Texas data centers
[00:21:12] broke law by not responding to water use
[00:21:15] inquiry and I have another dozen I won't
[00:21:18] go into. Uh these tech companies are
[00:21:20] known to lie about their resource usage
[00:21:22] and we're asking for an outright ban on
[00:21:25] all data centers that use over 20
[00:21:26] megawatts of power. Thank you.
[00:21:28] >> Thank you.
[00:21:30] And there's one more
[00:21:36] Aana.
[00:21:37] Okay, Aubriana, again, you'll have one
[00:21:39] minute.
[00:21:45] >> Hi, my name's Aubriana. I'm from the
[00:21:47] Spokane Valley.
[00:21:51] >> Yes, go ahead. You have a you have a
[00:21:52] minute to uh
[00:21:53] >> Hi, my name's Aubriana. Hi, my name's
[00:21:55] Aubriana. I'm from the Spokane Valley.
[00:21:57] Can you hear me?
[00:22:00] >> Oh, yes, we can hear you.
[00:22:03] So, I just wanted to comment on the
[00:22:05] large load data center that's being
[00:22:08] suggested. I think that we definitely
[00:22:10] need to advocate for a cap on all large
[00:22:13] load infrastructure at 20 megawws and
[00:22:17] limit the number of buildings with high
[00:22:19] resource demands. We've just finished
[00:22:22] one of the largest fires Spokane has
[00:22:25] ever seen, if not the largest. and data
[00:22:28] centers will require so much attention
[00:22:32] due to the ammonia solution. 19% has
[00:22:36] been quoted in this paperwork that will
[00:22:38] go into a plume into the air highly
[00:22:40] flammable along with tons of lithium
[00:22:43] batteries which this building alone
[00:22:46] would require special
[00:22:49] resources and ways the fires would put
[00:22:51] out. It will heat the ground and we
[00:22:54] should be focused on our community
[00:22:56] recovering and rebuilding and not adding
[00:23:00] more fire. Thank you so much for all you
[00:23:03] do. Please, no data center.
[00:23:06] >> Thank you. Okay, that is going to
[00:23:09] conclude our open public forum
[00:23:12] and so I'm going to now look to my
[00:23:14] fellow commissioners. Madame Chair, move
[00:23:17] to approve item 3 A through U.
[00:23:23] >> Second.
[00:23:24] >> A motion and a second for item 3 A
[00:23:27] through U.
[00:23:29] >> Seeing any further discussion?
[00:23:33] >> All those in favor, please signify by
[00:23:35] saying I.
[00:23:36] >> I.
[00:23:36] >> I.
[00:23:36] >> I.
[00:23:37] >> I.
[00:23:38] >> Motion passes unanimously.
[00:23:40] >> That will then take us to item again 4A.
[00:23:44] Do you want me to make a motion to
[00:23:45] continue that?
[00:23:46] >> No.
[00:23:46] >> No,
[00:23:47] >> we're just continuing it. So, um, again,
[00:23:50] item 4 A, we're continuing for decision
[00:23:53] only until September 15th, so we can get
[00:23:55] a few more questions answered. Um, and
[00:23:57] we'll bring that back next week. Um, so
[00:24:00] I'll look to my fellow commissioners for
[00:24:02] item 4B.
[00:24:03] >> Madame Chair, um, uh, item 4B was
[00:24:06] continued from last week, September 1st.
[00:24:09] So, uh, I move to approve public hearing
[00:24:11] item number 4B in the matter of amending
[00:24:14] service levels for residential recycling
[00:24:18] collection in unincorporated areas of
[00:24:21] Spokane County.
[00:24:22] >> Second motion and second. Is there any
[00:24:24] further discussion? Yeah, Commissioner
[00:24:27] Waldorf.
[00:24:28] >> So, I I'm glad that we're looking at
[00:24:30] expanding the recycling. I guess I was
[00:24:32] just wondering. I know we've had several
[00:24:35] inquiries already about people who are
[00:24:37] literally now just outside the new
[00:24:40] boundary that we are considering
[00:24:43] expanding to today. I I don't know if
[00:24:46] Lindsay is there a time frame that we
[00:24:49] can make adjustments more quickly than
[00:24:52] just annually.
[00:24:54] Just wondering for the public who've
[00:24:56] been following this and I know it was
[00:24:57] covered in the spokes
[00:24:58] >> and Lindsay, we need you to come up to
[00:25:00] the mic. I just was wondering if there
[00:25:02] was a way to as developments are
[00:25:05] occurring and new homes are being built
[00:25:07] and literally like a new house is built
[00:25:09] across the street from a house that has
[00:25:12] the recycling service. Is there any way
[00:25:14] to just start adding those in in a more
[00:25:18] frequent manner rather than doing an
[00:25:20] annual update?
[00:25:21] >> That's a great question. Um,
[00:25:24] in the past we've done it annually. It
[00:25:26] says in the county code that annually
[00:25:29] the board of county county commissioners
[00:25:30] will review petitions. Um there's in uh
[00:25:34] consultation with attorney Macio late
[00:25:37] last week, he said there's nothing that
[00:25:39] prohibits us from doing that more
[00:25:41] frequently. Um there is hours and
[00:25:44] resources that go into evaluating the
[00:25:47] parcels and neighborhoods um included in
[00:25:50] that annual review. Um but we are in
[00:25:54] fact looking into a neighborhood in
[00:25:56] Silver Lake. We had a resident come
[00:25:58] forth last week at the public hearing.
[00:26:00] Um and unfortunately she her
[00:26:03] neighborhood of about 50 homes was not
[00:26:05] included. And so we are currently
[00:26:07] looking into that and will likely have
[00:26:09] to hold another public hearing in a few
[00:26:11] weeks to include that neighborhood. So I
[00:26:13] would say um
[00:26:16] based on resources that it takes my
[00:26:19] staff and the GIS staff, it would be
[00:26:21] great if we could bundle these into
[00:26:23] maybe a couple times a year. Um the
[00:26:26] haulers also have to take into
[00:26:27] consideration rerouting and adding homes
[00:26:30] onto their routes. And so for that
[00:26:33] review, um if we could yeah do it maybe
[00:26:35] two or three times a year, I think
[00:26:37] that'd be the most we would want to do
[00:26:39] that. But yes, there is flexibility to
[00:26:41] do it more often.
[00:26:42] >> That's that's good to hear. Yeah, I
[00:26:44] would encourage us if we could do at
[00:26:45] least twice a year and obviously
[00:26:50] sometimes literally the holler is right
[00:26:52] there on the same street. So, u but it
[00:26:55] takes time to look at those things. So,
[00:26:57] anyway, thanks for all your work on it.
[00:26:58] I really do appreciate it.
[00:26:59] >> Yeah. Thank you.
[00:27:02] >> Thank you. Any other comments?
[00:27:05] Okay, I have a motion and a second for
[00:27:07] item 4B. All those in favor, please
[00:27:09] signify by saying I.
[00:27:11] >> I
[00:27:11] >> I
[00:27:12] >> I
[00:27:13] >> I.
[00:27:15] >> Motion passes unanimously.
[00:27:17] That will take us to the end of our
[00:27:19] agenda. Um, is there any other
[00:27:22] miscellaneous items?
[00:27:25] Okay. I will just say the Spokane County
[00:27:27] Fair is coming up this Friday, uh,
[00:27:29] September 11th. So, we open at 11
[00:27:32] o'clock in the morning and go for the
[00:27:34] till the following Sunday. So hopefully
[00:27:37] everyone can go out and enjoy the fair.
[00:27:39] So thank you all very much and hope you
[00:27:41] have a great day.
2026.09.08 Legislative Agenda
Spokane County | September 8, 2026
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJj7jxdC1s0
YouTube automatic captions. Not independently verified against audio. Exported timestamps have whole-second precision; caption wording is preserved.
[00:00:00] ress.
[00:00:01] >> Okay. Good afternoon everyone. It is
[00:00:03] September 8th, 2026. It is our 2 o'clock
[00:00:06] commissioners consent agenda meeting. Um
[00:00:08] let let the record reflect that all five
[00:00:10] commissioners are present. Commissioner
[00:00:12] French is on Zoom. Um we have received
[00:00:16] comments um for item 4B that we're
[00:00:19] sending to the commissioners.
[00:00:21] And other than that, we will be
[00:00:23] continuing item 4A
[00:00:27] um to next week for decision only. And
[00:00:30] so we'll be continuing that item to the
[00:00:32] 15th. Um last week we had a couple of
[00:00:35] questions that we need to get answered
[00:00:37] and they have not been answered yet. So
[00:00:38] we want to make sure that we we do our
[00:00:41] due diligence and so we're going to
[00:00:42] continue that to the 15th. And again,
[00:00:44] just for decision only. So with that, I
[00:00:47] would ask everyone to please stand for
[00:00:48] the pledge.
[00:00:54] I pledge algiance to the flag of the
[00:00:56] United States of America and to the
[00:00:59] republic for it stands. One nation under
[00:01:02] God, indivisible with liberty and
[00:01:05] justice for all.
[00:01:12] >> Okay, I do have five people that have
[00:01:14] signed up and I do have one person
[00:01:15] online. So, I am going to go ahead and
[00:01:17] accept all of those and we'll do three
[00:01:20] minutes each, just our standard three
[00:01:21] minutes. Um, that'll just take us just a
[00:01:24] few minutes over. So, I'm going to go
[00:01:26] ahead and get started with uh Terry
[00:01:28] Horn.
[00:01:39] All right. Good afternoon,
[00:01:40] commissioners. My name is Terry Horn.
[00:01:42] I'm West Plains resident. I'm here to
[00:01:44] talk about infrasound. There is no
[00:01:46] mitigation
[00:01:49] anything below the human threshold of
[00:01:52] hearing 20 hertz and below infrasound
[00:01:56] actually causes cellular death.
[00:02:00] Now it causes physiological and
[00:02:03] behavioral changes causes stress to our
[00:02:06] cells. I see nothing on mitigating
[00:02:10] infrasound from this proposed LLM, large
[00:02:14] language model, hypers scale AI data
[00:02:17] center. I'm not really sure what we
[00:02:19] really want to call it, but every time
[00:02:21] you increase the megawws of um an a
[00:02:25] center like this, it proportionally
[00:02:28] increases the infrasound exposure out by
[00:02:31] miles. That means my West Plains, West
[00:02:34] Terrace neighborhood when it reaches a
[00:02:37] thousand megawws because that's what
[00:02:39] you're planning on doing. I've read a
[00:02:41] lot is going to impact my neighborhood,
[00:02:44] my house. I'm sure it doesn't matter to
[00:02:47] you guys because well, you don't live
[00:02:49] near it, right? At the West Lake at the
[00:02:52] uh West Medical Lake Road site 11703.
[00:02:57] no mitigation if there's you can't
[00:02:59] damper it with normal techniques.
[00:03:03] Okay, it's a very specific oscillation,
[00:03:06] a linear nonosscillating system. Okay,
[00:03:10] you have to do your maths. We have to go
[00:03:12] back to the best available science.
[00:03:14] There's some fantastic literature out
[00:03:16] there that explains how infrasound, if
[00:03:19] unregulated, will kill human cells.
[00:03:24] Is that what you are planning on doing?
[00:03:28] Is is I'm serious because you're about
[00:03:30] to put it on top of a critical aqua
[00:03:32] recharge area with wetlands strewn all
[00:03:34] across it and one of the highest
[00:03:36] contamination points for PAS as is.
[00:03:41] What are we doing? We're going to put a
[00:03:43] site that's going to cause more
[00:03:44] environmental damage on a site that
[00:03:46] already has environmental impacts.
[00:03:49] This is not clever. Again, what does the
[00:03:53] best available science say? And I don't
[00:03:56] see anything in this literature, the
[00:03:58] publication, anything to protect us, the
[00:04:02] natural environment. I don't know what
[00:04:03] is going on, you guys.
[00:04:06] But please
[00:04:08] think about how you're going to mitigate
[00:04:10] infrasound
[00:04:12] because you will end up killing us.
[00:04:18] >> Thank you.
[00:04:20] Next I have Timothy Vale or
[00:04:22] >> Vile.
[00:04:26] >> Thank you.
[00:04:27] >> From Spokane Valley. So what I wanted to
[00:04:31] talk about is the same thing is the data
[00:04:33] center being proposed to be built in
[00:04:35] Airway Heights. So one of the things
[00:04:37] that kind of struck me as I've been
[00:04:38] doing more research about this and
[00:04:40] listening to y'all, I've been here last
[00:04:41] week as well, is there was talk of a
[00:04:44] planning committee and also of making
[00:04:46] regulations. My point is, does anyone
[00:04:49] here actually have the background in
[00:04:52] environmental science and the background
[00:04:54] in these actual data centers because the
[00:04:56] techn is quite new to adequately make a
[00:04:58] safe plan for us? Like you could put me
[00:05:01] in a room and you could have me design a
[00:05:02] seat belt and I could have something
[00:05:04] that looks like a seat belt, but I would
[00:05:05] not want to drive that car. And instead
[00:05:07] of driving a car, what we're having is
[00:05:09] we're having an entire community exposed
[00:05:11] to the results of these actions. So you
[00:05:14] know if you look at the railroad a lot
[00:05:16] of times there was political division on
[00:05:18] that project. People were very upset the
[00:05:20] railroad was getting built you know
[00:05:21] especially the people who was affecting
[00:05:22] and there were lots of people who are
[00:05:23] for it because making money. The data
[00:05:26] center is not a railroad. It's a project
[00:05:28] which has to be rebuilt every 5 years
[00:05:30] because the chips have no longevity. If
[00:05:32] you look at the actual macroeconomics of
[00:05:34] this I've talked to several people and
[00:05:37] it's not it's not unreasonable to
[00:05:39] conclude this might actually be a
[00:05:40] bubble. So we could potentially put in a
[00:05:43] lot of chemicals in an airway in airway
[00:05:46] heights a place which already has damage
[00:05:47] because the air force base and other
[00:05:49] factors and then have no long-term
[00:05:51] benefit to show for it. Also we do not
[00:05:54] have the ability inhouse to adequately
[00:05:57] make safety regulations. Now, we have
[00:05:58] the ability to call people and have
[00:06:00] those people show up and have those
[00:06:02] people present a neutral third-party
[00:06:04] safety regulations, which I think would
[00:06:06] be great because asking a company to
[00:06:08] write its own safety regulations, I
[00:06:10] think, has a proven track record lead to
[00:06:12] nothing but abuse. Um, you know,
[00:06:14] corporations by their very nature have
[00:06:16] to show profits to their shareholders.
[00:06:18] So, they're driving factors to make
[00:06:20] profits. Hey, I'm not hating on that,
[00:06:22] but this is our water. So I do think
[00:06:25] before we move forward we need to really
[00:06:27] we really need to think at the process
[00:06:28] we're actually using is conducive to
[00:06:31] health because again you put me in a
[00:06:33] room I make a seat belt do you want your
[00:06:35] kid to drive that car? No. And I you'd
[00:06:38] be a you you'd be a fool to do so. So I
[00:06:41] don't understand how allowing us to make
[00:06:43] our own safety regulations or allowing
[00:06:45] someone on the committee to make their
[00:06:46] own safety regulations or for God's
[00:06:47] sakes allowing the company to make the
[00:06:49] safety regulations is actually in
[00:06:50] anyone's interest. Like we have
[00:06:52] environmental impact studies for a
[00:06:54] reason. We have third parties for a
[00:06:56] reason. And we cannot accept the word of
[00:07:00] a company proposing their own safety
[00:07:01] regulations. They have every incentive
[00:07:03] on the planet to lie and we have every
[00:07:06] incentive to make sure that this is
[00:07:08] going to not be a permanent drain on the
[00:07:11] environment. We don't get a second
[00:07:12] chance at this. And also, not for
[00:07:15] nothing, according to a recent poll, 60%
[00:07:18] of Americans oppose data centers.
[00:07:22] Why are we doing this? The language
[00:07:24] models themselves have not shown great
[00:07:26] utility. What they are showing is
[00:07:28] economic disruption and we're not even
[00:07:31] sure this is going to be a good
[00:07:32] long-term thing. So, thank you for your
[00:07:34] time. Appreciate you.
[00:07:35] >> Thank you.
[00:07:37] >> Next, I have Jeremiah Hardy.
[00:07:49] So, back at it again.
[00:07:52] I uh I saw an interesting email. I
[00:07:55] believe it was August 27th. Uh Jeremiah
[00:07:58] Harding, Spokane. Um and that email was
[00:08:02] to Shawn Boyd thanking him for uh the
[00:08:06] effort.
[00:08:08] Uh Shawn Boyd of uh Apricus uh is one of
[00:08:12] the people, the prime people that's been
[00:08:15] talking with Al French for a long time.
[00:08:17] And uh Scott uh seems to have thanked
[00:08:21] him for some certain effort giving him
[00:08:24] uh like an insight on the uh
[00:08:28] workshopable ordinances and regulations
[00:08:31] that have been coming out for data
[00:08:33] centers. Now this is one of multiple
[00:08:36] emails. And another email that I saw um
[00:08:40] was a forward and this was on August 3rd
[00:08:44] I believe a forward of an email that was
[00:08:47] sent in April. And that email that was
[00:08:50] sent in April was a nice little
[00:08:52] slideshow presentation from Apricus.
[00:08:56] And that little slideshow presentation
[00:08:59] said among other things that they don't
[00:09:01] plan on a closed loop anything that they
[00:09:03] don't plan on, you know, um any sort of
[00:09:07] true environmental mitigation. Now, one
[00:09:10] of the reasons that that matters is in
[00:09:12] the ordinance thing that uh got brought
[00:09:15] up during the workshop, uh they were
[00:09:18] touting a big line about uh their, you
[00:09:20] know, closed loop that they were going
[00:09:21] to, you know, save as much water as
[00:09:23] possible. to only be 03%.
[00:09:26] Which is still, you know, insane and not
[00:09:29] good for the environment. But like
[00:09:30] beyond all of that, um the email in
[00:09:33] question said in that same slideshow
[00:09:36] that the public had been consulted and
[00:09:39] that the public had no objections. The
[00:09:42] public didn't know.
[00:09:44] We didn't know.
[00:09:47] Do you understand how that looks to the
[00:09:49] people here? To the people in this
[00:09:51] audience? To the people who see these
[00:09:52] posts online? To the people who see me
[00:09:54] when I reveal these things that were
[00:09:57] supposed to be in private and
[00:09:58] confidential emails and presentations
[00:10:01] that are marked private and confidential
[00:10:03] because they were private and
[00:10:04] confidential and they always were. And
[00:10:07] then being told that the public had been
[00:10:09] consulted and that they didn't object.
[00:10:13] Do you understand that a public who is
[00:10:15] routinely not consulted about the way
[00:10:17] that things affect them in their
[00:10:20] environments and in their political
[00:10:22] environment eventually do something
[00:10:24] about that? Because let me be absolutely
[00:10:28] crystal clear. These things are
[00:10:29] poisoning, surveilling, helping the
[00:10:31] government kill people domestically and
[00:10:33] overseas, helping rip up families,
[00:10:36] helping you know control how much you
[00:10:39] spend on things, powering the dystopian
[00:10:42] surveillance and warfare and
[00:10:44] brutalization state. And if you think
[00:10:47] that the public does not object, you
[00:10:49] don't know the public.
[00:10:53] >> Thank you.
[00:10:55] Next I have Joseph Godsy.
[00:11:06] Good afternoon. I'm Joseph Godsy and I
[00:11:09] was elected to protect the water for the
[00:11:11] people of the valley, the city, and the
[00:11:12] county. But I can't protect our water
[00:11:15] from the threat that the Republican
[00:11:17] party poses to all of us. So today, I
[00:11:20] will lead us in a reflection. As a
[00:11:22] former Republican, I will share what I
[00:11:25] was once told to tolerate and no longer
[00:11:28] could. I hope that you can reflect.
[00:11:31] First, I want every elected individual
[00:11:33] here to look at your open hands and
[00:11:36] think of the lives entrusted unto them.
[00:11:39] Now, for every time a Republican has
[00:11:42] done one of these evils and you
[00:11:44] overlooked it, close a finger. I'll be
[00:11:48] open and honest about how much I have
[00:11:50] had to overlook in my life.
[00:11:52] Put a finger down for every Republican
[00:11:54] who's ever signaled a company's profits
[00:11:56] are worth more than American citizens
[00:11:59] lives.
[00:12:01] Put a finger down for every Republican
[00:12:03] who works to dismantle workers rights,
[00:12:05] protection, and fair pay. Put a finger
[00:12:08] down for every Republican who has
[00:12:11] defended slavery in your orbit. Put a
[00:12:14] finger down for every Republican who
[00:12:16] blamed the victim of an assault. put a
[00:12:20] finger down for every Republican who
[00:12:22] criticized what a little girl was
[00:12:23] wearing, signaling that they were
[00:12:25] definitely attracted to that child and
[00:12:26] it was up to that child to have to
[00:12:28] protect themselves from the monster. Put
[00:12:31] a finger down for every Republican who
[00:12:33] defends pedophilia and child marriage.
[00:12:37] Put a finger down for every time a
[00:12:39] Republican called for extrajudicial
[00:12:41] killings.
[00:12:42] Put a finger down for every Republican
[00:12:44] that has called for genocide.
[00:12:47] Put a finger down for every time a
[00:12:49] Republican has called for the use of
[00:12:50] nuclear weapons. Put a finger down for
[00:12:53] every Republican who defended child
[00:12:55] labor. Put a finger down for every
[00:12:58] Republican that has called for open
[00:13:00] treason against America. As a
[00:13:02] Republican, you add legitimacy to their
[00:13:06] evils. Now for every time your hands is
[00:13:08] opened and closed, imagine the innocent
[00:13:11] lives entrusted in your hands being
[00:13:13] crushed as blood has flowed forth from
[00:13:16] your stained hands. Your Republican
[00:13:19] hands are the orphan crushing machines
[00:13:21] and you can choose to turn them off at
[00:13:23] any time by renouncing the evils that
[00:13:26] you represent. But otherwise, we the
[00:13:29] voters will have to. I'm Joseph Godsy.
[00:13:32] Have the day you deserve.
[00:13:36] Thank you. And next I have Gabriel
[00:13:39] Kennedy Gibbons.
[00:13:55] Hello commissioners. My name is Gabriel
[00:13:57] and I live up in North Spokane County.
[00:14:00] Um, so first I just wanted to take an
[00:14:02] opportunity to thank all of you in
[00:14:04] person for finding a compromise and
[00:14:07] voting on the four-month pause um for
[00:14:09] data center construction. So,
[00:14:11] Commissioner Jordan, Commissioner
[00:14:12] Waldruff, Commissioner Karns,
[00:14:14] Commissioner Brooks, and online,
[00:14:16] Commissioner French, thank you. Um, with
[00:14:19] that said, my ask is that if the
[00:14:22] planning commission requests an extended
[00:14:24] deadline to do their best work that you
[00:14:27] grant that pause or that extension of
[00:14:29] the pause. Um, and here's the reasons
[00:14:31] why. So, I read through the entire
[00:14:32] ordinance, the draft ordinance, and I
[00:14:34] read line by line. I made very thorough
[00:14:36] comments in the margins of everything
[00:14:37] that I've learned with my environmental
[00:14:38] science degree, things that I liked in
[00:14:40] the ordinance, things that I found
[00:14:41] concerning. I've also been keeping a
[00:14:43] track record of every single comment
[00:14:45] made at all of these meetings at the
[00:14:47] planning commission workshop as well as
[00:14:49] things posted online on Facebook and
[00:14:50] case studies that I've read of all of
[00:14:52] the gaps that we still have in this
[00:14:54] ordinance. My plan is to compile all of
[00:14:57] these things, cate categorize them, and
[00:14:59] then take them to an event I suggest the
[00:15:02] public attend, which will be um in
[00:15:04] Airway Heights this Thursday, which is
[00:15:06] September 10th, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
[00:15:09] And it's a public forum by the people
[00:15:11] for the people, so we can hear all the
[00:15:13] concerns and see if there are any that
[00:15:15] are still um not on this list. With all
[00:15:18] of those compiled concerns, the planning
[00:15:20] commission said the easiest way for them
[00:15:22] to incorporate all of those is to see
[00:15:24] tracked changes. So, I'm going to take
[00:15:27] the entire ordinance. I'm going to write
[00:15:28] in all of the comments, the suggestions,
[00:15:30] the things I don't know that like we
[00:15:32] could use planning research and help.
[00:15:34] Um, and then we're going to get that
[00:15:35] document over to the planning
[00:15:37] commission. Um, so hopefully that's
[00:15:39] really helpful for them, but that's
[00:15:40] still going to take us some time as a
[00:15:41] community. The hope is that as a
[00:15:43] community we can find and finalize and
[00:15:45] agree on a single document with all of
[00:15:47] the concerns and then get that over to
[00:15:49] them so it's not just comment after
[00:15:51] comment. I know many of you tuned in to
[00:15:53] that planning commission workshop and it
[00:15:54] was very all over the place with
[00:15:56] concerns and things that were directly
[00:15:58] um talking about changes in the
[00:16:00] ordinance and just um overall changes in
[00:16:02] general. So I just want to try to
[00:16:04] streamline that process, but it's still
[00:16:06] going to take some time on our side
[00:16:07] before we can even get it to the
[00:16:08] planning commission. Um, so that brings
[00:16:10] us to this guy. This is our Earth. This
[00:16:13] is my Lego Earth. And similar to our our
[00:16:16] real world Earth. If I drop this, it's
[00:16:19] fragile. It's going to break. Right. So,
[00:16:21] we've got one Earth. We've got one shot
[00:16:23] to really get this ordinance right. And
[00:16:25] if it's going to take a few extra days
[00:16:27] to get all of the language, get the
[00:16:29] loopholes out. Right now there's a
[00:16:30] loophole where a developer could make
[00:16:32] several light load data centers next to
[00:16:34] each other and um they wouldn't have to
[00:16:37] follow the same rules that the larger
[00:16:39] load has. There's another um loophole
[00:16:40] that I'm concerned about which is
[00:16:42] developers will just pay the fees for
[00:16:44] violating things in the ordinance which
[00:16:46] has been done in case studies and I'll
[00:16:48] put those together and send those out to
[00:16:50] you guys so you're aware of that. I just
[00:16:52] really want to see this be as robust of
[00:16:54] a document as possible and the only way
[00:16:55] that that's going to happen is to have
[00:16:57] enough ample time to do so. So, if the
[00:16:58] planning commission requests more time,
[00:17:00] I really would appreciate if you could
[00:17:02] send. Thank you.
[00:17:03] >> Thank you. And then we do have one
[00:17:05] person online.
[00:17:09] Um,
[00:17:10] so whoever the first person was.
[00:17:17] >> Good afternoon, commissioners. I'm
[00:17:19] Britney Anderson. At this point, this
[00:17:22] board knows what has been uncovered and
[00:17:25] so does much of the public. I have
[00:17:27] emailed you with specific questions and
[00:17:30] still have not received substantive
[00:17:32] answers. Today, I received additional
[00:17:35] county records showing that Appreates
[00:17:37] was not simply discussing Big Rock. The
[00:17:39] CEO is directly submitting proposed
[00:17:41] changes to Spokane County's data center
[00:17:44] ordinance, including comments attributed
[00:17:46] to Inland Power, while also providing
[00:17:48] the county commission with revised Big
[00:17:50] Rock information and updated water use
[00:17:53] numbers. I do not have the attachments
[00:17:55] for those. Ironically, I also found the
[00:17:58] Great Spokane, Inc. was circulating a
[00:18:00] separate Washington Department of
[00:18:02] Commerce lead for another data center
[00:18:04] prospect while this county was actively
[00:18:07] developing its data center regulations.
[00:18:10] So, I want several questions answered on
[00:18:12] the record, please.
[00:18:15] Who is the developer and end user behind
[00:18:18] Big Rock? Is it Vantage? Is it diode? Or
[00:18:22] is there another public or is there
[00:18:24] another party that the public has not
[00:18:26] been told about? Has any commissioner or
[00:18:29] county official agreed to or signed an
[00:18:32] NDA or confidentiality agreement
[00:18:34] involving Big Rock, Africer?
[00:18:38] And most importantly, which provisions
[00:18:41] of the county's proposed data center
[00:18:42] ordinance has have been changed or been
[00:18:45] considered for change as the request of
[00:18:47] Africa inland power developers,
[00:18:50] utilities, or other industrial
[00:18:51] representatives.
[00:18:53] The public deserves to know who is
[00:18:55] helping to shape the rules for a project
[00:18:57] that could directly be benefit those who
[00:18:59] rules. We are doing our homework and
[00:19:02] we're paying attention. Silence is not
[00:19:05] transparency. So, please answer the
[00:19:08] questions already in front of you. I
[00:19:10] have sent so many emails and it's like
[00:19:12] shouting into the void. It is so
[00:19:15] frustrating and it's not just you guys.
[00:19:17] It's also the city of Spokane and it's
[00:19:19] also um Airway Heights as well. It's
[00:19:22] very frustrating. Like you guys complain
[00:19:25] about people not,
[00:19:29] you know, keeping a level head during
[00:19:30] these things and it's because we don't
[00:19:34] get any answers and it's extremely
[00:19:36] frustrating. Like why is it so secret? I
[00:19:40] don't understand. Just be honest with
[00:19:42] us. That's all we want is transparency.
[00:19:44] That's all I have.
[00:19:47] >> Thank you.
[00:19:50] Um, Ron, you said there's two more that
[00:19:52] have Okay. Um, I'm gonna allow them. We
[00:19:55] were after like we were at 205, so I'm
[00:19:58] going to just ask them to just give one
[00:20:00] minute.
[00:20:04] So, I don't know. You'll have to tell me
[00:20:06] who.
[00:20:08] >> Yep. Hello. I'm Zachariah.
[00:20:10] >> Hi, Zachariah. Um, I am gonna allow you
[00:20:12] to speak, but I'm just going to give you
[00:20:13] a minute if that's um that's that's what
[00:20:15] I'm asking for now.
[00:20:17] >> Yeah, that's okay. Thank you. I live in
[00:20:19] the West Plains and I work in
[00:20:20] information technology.
[00:20:22] Every couple of months there's new
[00:20:24] polling information that's released
[00:20:25] about attitudes surrounding large data
[00:20:28] centers. Every time it shows increased
[00:20:30] opposition. The most recent poll now
[00:20:33] shows that 79% of Americans do not want
[00:20:36] hypers scale data centers to be built in
[00:20:37] their communities with 60% strongly
[00:20:40] opposing them. I also wanted to share
[00:20:43] some news articles from the last couple
[00:20:44] of months.
[00:20:46] First, Microsoftbacked AI data center on
[00:20:49] the east coast is powering its
[00:20:51] operations with dozens of unpermitted
[00:20:53] generators.
[00:20:55] Georgia's first data center connected
[00:20:57] power plant found violating state and
[00:20:59] federal air pollution laws.
[00:21:02] A contractor for meta data center in
[00:21:04] Wyoming flushed over 800,000 gallons of
[00:21:08] contaminated water.
[00:21:10] More than half of Texas data centers
[00:21:12] broke law by not responding to water use
[00:21:15] inquiry and I have another dozen I won't
[00:21:18] go into. Uh these tech companies are
[00:21:20] known to lie about their resource usage
[00:21:22] and we're asking for an outright ban on
[00:21:25] all data centers that use over 20
[00:21:26] megawatts of power. Thank you.
[00:21:28] >> Thank you.
[00:21:30] And there's one more
[00:21:36] Aana.
[00:21:37] Okay, Aubriana, again, you'll have one
[00:21:39] minute.
[00:21:45] >> Hi, my name's Aubriana. I'm from the
[00:21:47] Spokane Valley.
[00:21:51] >> Yes, go ahead. You have a you have a
[00:21:52] minute to uh
[00:21:53] >> Hi, my name's Aubriana. Hi, my name's
[00:21:55] Aubriana. I'm from the Spokane Valley.
[00:21:57] Can you hear me?
[00:22:00] >> Oh, yes, we can hear you.
[00:22:03] So, I just wanted to comment on the
[00:22:05] large load data center that's being
[00:22:08] suggested. I think that we definitely
[00:22:10] need to advocate for a cap on all large
[00:22:13] load infrastructure at 20 megawws and
[00:22:17] limit the number of buildings with high
[00:22:19] resource demands. We've just finished
[00:22:22] one of the largest fires Spokane has
[00:22:25] ever seen, if not the largest. and data
[00:22:28] centers will require so much attention
[00:22:32] due to the ammonia solution. 19% has
[00:22:36] been quoted in this paperwork that will
[00:22:38] go into a plume into the air highly
[00:22:40] flammable along with tons of lithium
[00:22:43] batteries which this building alone
[00:22:46] would require special
[00:22:49] resources and ways the fires would put
[00:22:51] out. It will heat the ground and we
[00:22:54] should be focused on our community
[00:22:56] recovering and rebuilding and not adding
[00:23:00] more fire. Thank you so much for all you
[00:23:03] do. Please, no data center.
[00:23:06] >> Thank you. Okay, that is going to
[00:23:09] conclude our open public forum
[00:23:12] and so I'm going to now look to my
[00:23:14] fellow commissioners. Madame Chair, move
[00:23:17] to approve item 3 A through U.
[00:23:23] >> Second.
[00:23:24] >> A motion and a second for item 3 A
[00:23:27] through U.
[00:23:29] >> Seeing any further discussion?
[00:23:33] >> All those in favor, please signify by
[00:23:35] saying I.
[00:23:36] >> I.
[00:23:36] >> I.
[00:23:36] >> I.
[00:23:37] >> I.
[00:23:38] >> Motion passes unanimously.
[00:23:40] >> That will then take us to item again 4A.
[00:23:44] Do you want me to make a motion to
[00:23:45] continue that?
[00:23:46] >> No.
[00:23:46] >> No,
[00:23:47] >> we're just continuing it. So, um, again,
[00:23:50] item 4 A, we're continuing for decision
[00:23:53] only until September 15th, so we can get
[00:23:55] a few more questions answered. Um, and
[00:23:57] we'll bring that back next week. Um, so
[00:24:00] I'll look to my fellow commissioners for
[00:24:02] item 4B.
[00:24:03] >> Madame Chair, um, uh, item 4B was
[00:24:06] continued from last week, September 1st.
[00:24:09] So, uh, I move to approve public hearing
[00:24:11] item number 4B in the matter of amending
[00:24:14] service levels for residential recycling
[00:24:18] collection in unincorporated areas of
[00:24:21] Spokane County.
[00:24:22] >> Second motion and second. Is there any
[00:24:24] further discussion? Yeah, Commissioner
[00:24:27] Waldorf.
[00:24:28] >> So, I I'm glad that we're looking at
[00:24:30] expanding the recycling. I guess I was
[00:24:32] just wondering. I know we've had several
[00:24:35] inquiries already about people who are
[00:24:37] literally now just outside the new
[00:24:40] boundary that we are considering
[00:24:43] expanding to today. I I don't know if
[00:24:46] Lindsay is there a time frame that we
[00:24:49] can make adjustments more quickly than
[00:24:52] just annually.
[00:24:54] Just wondering for the public who've
[00:24:56] been following this and I know it was
[00:24:57] covered in the spokes
[00:24:58] >> and Lindsay, we need you to come up to
[00:25:00] the mic. I just was wondering if there
[00:25:02] was a way to as developments are
[00:25:05] occurring and new homes are being built
[00:25:07] and literally like a new house is built
[00:25:09] across the street from a house that has
[00:25:12] the recycling service. Is there any way
[00:25:14] to just start adding those in in a more
[00:25:18] frequent manner rather than doing an
[00:25:20] annual update?
[00:25:21] >> That's a great question. Um,
[00:25:24] in the past we've done it annually. It
[00:25:26] says in the county code that annually
[00:25:29] the board of county county commissioners
[00:25:30] will review petitions. Um there's in uh
[00:25:34] consultation with attorney Macio late
[00:25:37] last week, he said there's nothing that
[00:25:39] prohibits us from doing that more
[00:25:41] frequently. Um there is hours and
[00:25:44] resources that go into evaluating the
[00:25:47] parcels and neighborhoods um included in
[00:25:50] that annual review. Um but we are in
[00:25:54] fact looking into a neighborhood in
[00:25:56] Silver Lake. We had a resident come
[00:25:58] forth last week at the public hearing.
[00:26:00] Um and unfortunately she her
[00:26:03] neighborhood of about 50 homes was not
[00:26:05] included. And so we are currently
[00:26:07] looking into that and will likely have
[00:26:09] to hold another public hearing in a few
[00:26:11] weeks to include that neighborhood. So I
[00:26:13] would say um
[00:26:16] based on resources that it takes my
[00:26:19] staff and the GIS staff, it would be
[00:26:21] great if we could bundle these into
[00:26:23] maybe a couple times a year. Um the
[00:26:26] haulers also have to take into
[00:26:27] consideration rerouting and adding homes
[00:26:30] onto their routes. And so for that
[00:26:33] review, um if we could yeah do it maybe
[00:26:35] two or three times a year, I think
[00:26:37] that'd be the most we would want to do
[00:26:39] that. But yes, there is flexibility to
[00:26:41] do it more often.
[00:26:42] >> That's that's good to hear. Yeah, I
[00:26:44] would encourage us if we could do at
[00:26:45] least twice a year and obviously
[00:26:50] sometimes literally the holler is right
[00:26:52] there on the same street. So, u but it
[00:26:55] takes time to look at those things. So,
[00:26:57] anyway, thanks for all your work on it.
[00:26:58] I really do appreciate it.
[00:26:59] >> Yeah. Thank you.
[00:27:02] >> Thank you. Any other comments?
[00:27:05] Okay, I have a motion and a second for
[00:27:07] item 4B. All those in favor, please
[00:27:09] signify by saying I.
[00:27:11] >> I
[00:27:11] >> I
[00:27:12] >> I
[00:27:13] >> I.
[00:27:15] >> Motion passes unanimously.
[00:27:17] That will take us to the end of our
[00:27:19] agenda. Um, is there any other
[00:27:22] miscellaneous items?
[00:27:25] Okay. I will just say the Spokane County
[00:27:27] Fair is coming up this Friday, uh,
[00:27:29] September 11th. So, we open at 11
[00:27:32] o'clock in the morning and go for the
[00:27:34] till the following Sunday. So hopefully
[00:27:37] everyone can go out and enjoy the fair.
[00:27:39] So thank you all very much and hope you
[00:27:41] have a great day.